Close Encounters Of The Bruce Kind
A fan his whole life, Glen Hansard has recently got to know Bruce Springsteen off stage as well as on. Talking exclusively to Stuart Clark, he explains what makes The Boss & The E Street Band so special.
Stuart Clark, 04 Sep 2012
“I was heading over to Grafton St. to go busking. The bus from Ballymun drops off on Parnell Square, so I had to walk past the Gresham Hotel where this pink Cadillac was parked. Having never seen an American car close up before, I stopped for a look and bumped into this dude – I had me guitar on me back – and he said, ‘Sorry!’ and it was Bruce. It was fucking amazing. He was in town for Slane, which we went to the next day and I’ve been an obsessive fan ever since!”
Glen Hansard is recalling his first meeting with Bruce Springsteen in August, 1985. There was no reason to think it then, but the pair have subsequently become close friends and confidantes. Talking to Hot Press earlier this year, Glen explained how The Boss had helped him come to terms with his Oscar-winning success: “He said something really great to me – ‘For the past 20 years you’ve been a guy in a band, a guy on the street, you’ve been working your way up, you against the world… That guy has just died! The guy you’ve always been, the only guy you had to turn to, is now dead and you’re wearing a new suit. You’re mourning the passing of your old self. Don’t worry about it – take some time to adjust’. He was absolutely right.”
Their paths crossed again last week, when Glen re-configured his European tour in order to make the RDS.
“There’s no way you can miss Bruce in Dublin,” he laughs. “We changed our travel plans and flew in on Tuesday, caught the show and flew out again at 5am the following morning. I’d love to have stayed for the second gig, which I’m told was completely different and probably better, but we had a festival in Bologna to play.”
Did he hear about the sneeze-related incident, which led to his pal Jake Clemons taking to the stage the following night in a wheelchair?
“I was with Jake on Tuesday and everything was fine, and then, bang! His knees went as well as his back, so the poor guy was fucked and in a lot of pain. Bruce said a very interesting thing to Jake when he was considering having him in the band, which was: ‘Not only do you have to be as good as Clarence, but you’ve got to be as good as people’s memory of Clarence’. No pressure there! It’s kind of ironic about the wheelchair ‘cos it was his uncle who was in one when I met Jake for the first time in the RDS in July 2009. He was there really to be ready; it was touch-and-go whether Clarence would be able to complete the tour. Through some superhuman effort he managed it, but he didn’t look at all well.”
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